Box Office Actuals: ‘Fury’ On Top, ‘Birdman’ Opens Huge and ‘Best of Me’ is Worst of the Sparks

Fury dropped only a fraction once actuals came in, topping the weekend box office with $23.7 million. With an “A-” CinemaScore it could push to up around $75 million or so domestically, but I’m not sure I’d hold my breath. It will also be interesting to see how it plays internationally. Having Brad Pitt in the cast certainly helps, but is the international audience all that interested in following an American tank crew through the final days of World War II?

The Book of Life, which stuck to its $17 million estimate once actuals came in.

Then down in fifth is The Best of Me, the worst opening for a Nicholas Sparks adaptation in nine tries, but don’t expect that to stop them from making more as both “The Choice” and “The Longest Ride” are already in production, possibly both arriving in 2015.

Then we get to Men, Women & Children, which now has the distinction of having the fifth worst wide opening in history with only $306,367 from 608 theaters. For a bit of comparison, this week saw Birdman (my review) open in only four theaters to the tune of $424,397, the second highest limited opening of the year behind Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel, which opened to a whopping $811,166 back in March.

When it comes to the Box Office Challenge, I’ve listed the current top ten from the points and accuracy leaderboards directly below and you can find the full leaderboard here. For the complete box office top ten and points awarded for this weekend specifically click here.

Points Leaderboard Top 10

1. J T (71 points)
2. Alan Smithee (60 points)
3. austinjoel (57 points)
4. PJ Edwards (55 points)
5. Nathan (51 points)
6. Arthur Carlson (47 points)
7. Abraham Sánchez (45 points)
7. Stephen Jay (45 points)
9. Vaus (43 points)
10. Exxdee13 (41 points)
10. Matt P (41 points)

Accuracy Leaderboard Top 10

1. J T (82.847% accuracy)
2. Return of the BT (80.459% accuracy)
3. Ryan Jayden (77.596% accuracy)
4. Exxdee13 (77.538% accuracy)
5. Rob (76.157% accuracy)
6. Matt P (75.767% accuracy)
7. jonjon (75.419% accuracy)
8. Andrew13 (74.207% accuracy)
9. Erik (73.567% accuracy)
10. PJ Edwards (72.291% accuracy)